President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Climate Change Bill into law on Tuesday.
This is the first piece of legislation in SA that is specifically aimed at addressing the effects of climate change by setting out a national climate change response, including mitigation and adaptation actions.
“The Climate Change Act, as endorsed by the president, enables the alignment of policies that influence SA’s climate change response to ensure that SA’s transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society is not constrained by policy contradictions,” the presidency said.
The law also sets out to enhance SA’s ability and capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience, while reducing the risk of job losses and promoting opportunities for new job opportunities in the emerging green economy.
The act will, among other things, enable the environment minister to set emissions targets for various sectors, such as energy and transport, and prescribe emission thresholds or carbon budgets at a company level.
Climate change mitigation or the reduction of greenhouse gasses now has a legal basis with the coming allocation of carbon budgets to significant emitters, said climate advocacy lawyer at the Centre for Environmental Rights Brandon Abdinor.
“The Act could have been stronger in making excess greenhouse gas emissions an offence; at least there are now tools in place for the monitoring of emissions and mitigation plans. This will effectively start to compel heavy emitters to engage with decarbonising their businesses,” he said.
According to the presidency, the act will aim to strengthen co-ordination between national sector departments and provide policy setting and decision-making to enable SA to meet the commitments in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.
The NDC contains a set of commitments SA has made under the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse emissions as part of climate change mitigation.
The NDC, which is being revised, commits SA to a 31% reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions (CO2e) and a fixed target for greenhouse gas emissions levels of 398-million to 510-million tonnes of CO2e by 2025, and 350-million to 420-million tonnes of CO2e by 2030.
The Climate Change Act also sets out the functions of the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), including providing advice on SA’s climate change response and financing mechanisms for the just transition.
The law also stipulates the role provinces and municipalities will play in mitigation efforts.
Dr Crispian Olver, executive director of the PCC welcomed the “ground-breaking legislation”, which would help realise the vision for an “effective climate change response”.
“Undoubtedly, any successful climate action effort will require alignment of major social-economic, environmental and governance policies. We are entering a new phase of climate action and we believe the Climate Change Act, will foster institutional coherence and enhance climate change adaptation governance across the national, provincial and local layers of government,” Olver added.
Update: July 23 2024
This story contains comment from the Presidential Climate Commission and the Centre for Environmental Rights
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